Oyama was born in Gimje,
South Korea, during Japanese occupation.
At a young age he was sent to Manchuria to live on his
sister's farm. Oyama began studying martial arts at age 9 from a Chinese seasonal
worker who was working on the farm. His name was Lee and Oyama said he was his
very first teacher. Lee gave the young Oyama a seed which he was to plant; when
it sprouted, he was to jump over it one hundred times every day. As the seed
grew and became a plant, Oyama later said, "I was able to jump between
walls back and forth easily." However, the story of the young Oyama's life
has been sensationalized in manga and movies so the line between fiction and
fact has become obscure.

In March 1938, Oyama left for Japan following his
brother who enrolled in the Yamanashi Aviation School Imperial Japanese Army
aviation school.[1] He was inspired to go to Japan by
General Kanji Ishihara who
was against the invasion of Asian neighbors (as a consequence, he was
ostracized by higher ranks of the Japanese Army), to carve out his future in
the heart of the Empire of Japan.

Post-World War II

in 1945 after the war ended Oyama left the
Aviation school. He began "Eiwa Karate Research Center" in Suginami
ward but closed quickly because "I soon realized that I was an unwanted
Korean. Nobody would rent me a room."[1] He finally found a place to live at a
corner of Tokyo. This is where he met his future wife whose mother ran a
dormitory for university students.

In 1946, Oyama enrolled in Waseda University
Sports Education.

Wanting the best in instruction, he contacted the Shotokan (Karate school) operated by Gigō Funakoshi, the second son of karate master Gichin Funakoshi. He became a student, and began
his lifelong career in Karate. Feeling like a foreigner in a strange land, he
remained isolated, and trained in solitude.[1]

Oyama attended Takushoku University
in Tokyo and was accepted as a student at the dojo
(training hall) of Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of shotokan. He trained with
Funakoshi for two years, then studied Gōjū-ryū karate for several years with "So
Nei Chu" (소네이쥬, 1907-?),[citation needed]
a senior student of the system's founder, Chojun Miyagi and was eventually graded to 8th
Dan in the system by Gogen Yamaguchi who
at the time was the head of Goju ryu in mainland Japan.

Korea had been officially annexed by Japan since
1910. During World War II (1939–1945) there was much unrest throughout Korea.
As South Korea began to fight against North Korea over political ideology, Oyama
became increasingly distressed. He recounts, "though I was born and bred
in Korea, I had unconsciously made myself liberal; I felt repulsion against the
strong feudal system of my fatherland, and that was one of the reasons which
made me run away from home to Japan."[1] He joined a Korean political
organization in Japan to strive for the unification of Korea, but soon was
being targeted and harassed by the Japanese police. He then consulted with a
fellow Korean from the same native province, Mr. Neichu So, who was a Goju
Karate expert.[1]

Around the time he also went around Tokyo getting
in fights with the US Military Police. He later reminisced those times in a
television interview, "Itsumitemo Haran Banjyo" (Nihon Television),
"I lost many friends during the war- the very morning of their departure
as Kamikaze pilots, we had breakfast together and in
the evening their seats were empty. After the war ended, I was angry- so I
fought as many US Military as I can, until my portrait was all over the police
station." At this time, Mr. So suggested that Oyama retreat to a lone
mountain for solace to train his mind and body. He set out to spend three years
on Mt. Minobu in Yamanashi Prefecture,
Japan. Oyama built a shack on the side of the
mountain. One of his students named Yashiro accompanied him, but after the
rigors of this isolated training, with no modern conveniences, the student
snuck away one night, and left Oyama alone. With only monthly visits from a
friend in the town of Tateyama in Chiba Prefecture, the loneliness and harsh
training became grueling. Oyama began to doubt his decision, so he sent a
letter to the man who suggested the retreat. Mr. So replied with encouragement
to remain, and suggested that he shave off one eyebrow so that he would not be
tempted to come out of the mountain and let anyone see him that way. Oyama
remained on the mountain for fourteen months, and returned to Tokyo a much
stronger and more fierce Karateka.[1]

He was forced to leave his mountain retreat after
his sponsor had stopped supporting him. Months later, after he had won the
Karate Section of Japanese National Martial Arts Championships, he was
distraught that he had not reached his original goal to train in the mountains
for three years, so he went into solitude again, this time on Mt. Kiyosumi in
Chiba Prefecture, Japan and he trained there for 18 months.

Founds Kyokushin

In 1953 Oyama opened his own karatedojo, named Oyama Dojo, in Tokyo but
continued to travel around Japan and the world giving
martial arts demonstrations, including the fighting and killing of live bulls
with his bare hands. His dojo was first located outside in an empty lot but
eventually moved into a ballet school in 1956. Oyama's own curriculum soon
developed a reputation as a tough, intense, hard hitting but practical style
which was finally named Kyokushin in a ceremony 1957. He also
developed a reputation for being 'rough' with his students, often injuring them
during training sessions. As the reputation of the dojo grew students were
attracted to come to train there from in and outside Japan and the number of
students grew. Many of the eventual senior leaders of today's various Kyokushin
based organisations began training in the style during this time. In 1964 Oyama
moved the dojo into the building that would from then on serve as the Kyokushin
home dojo and world headquarters. In connection with this he also formally
founded the 'International Karate Organization Kyokushin kaikan' (commonly
abbreviated to IKO or IKOK) to organise the many schools that were by then
teaching the kyokushin style. In the same year, his dojo received a challenge
from Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). Oyama, believing that no
other style was comparable to his, accepted the challenge and sent three
students (Kenji
Kurosaki, Tadashi Nakamura, Noboru
Ōsawa) to Thailand who won 2 of the 3 fights, thus redeeming the
reputation of his karate style.

After formally establishing Kyokushin-kai, Oyama
directed the organization through a period of expansion. Oyama and his staff of
hand-picked instructors displayed great ability in marketing the style and
gaining new members. Oyama would choose an instructor to open a dojo in another
town or city in Japan. The instructor would move to that town and usually
demonstrate his karate skills in public places, such as at the civic gymnasium,
the local police gym (where many judo students would practice), a local park,
or conduct martial arts demonstrations at local festivals or school events. In
this way, the instructor would soon gain a few students for his new dojo. After
that, word of mouth would spread through the local area until the dojo had a
dedicated core of students. Oyama also sent instructors to other countries such
as the United States of
America, Netherlands, England, Australia and Brazil to spread Kyokushin in the same way. Oyama also
promoted Kyokushin by holding The All-Japan Full Contact Karate Open Championships
every year and World Full Contact Karate Open Champtionships once every
four years in which anyone could enter from any style.

Oyama tested himself in a kumite, a progression of fights, each lasting two minutes, and
each after the featured participant wins. Oyama devised the 100-man kumite which he went on to complete 3
times in a row over the course of 3 days.[2]

He was also known for fighting bulls bare-handed.
In his lifetime, he battled 52 bulls, three of which were purportedly killed
instantly with one strike, earning him the nickname of "Godhand".[3] The legitimacy of these claims is
disputed. One of Oyama's students, Jon Bluming, said "The story about
Oyama fighting bulls is not true, he never met a real bull, for he never
visited Spain. I also doubt that he was gored, for he never told me about it,
and he used to tell me everything. Kenji
Kurosaki was there, and he told me what happened. They went early in
the morning to a stockyard in [the town of] Tateyama. Workmen prepared a fat
old ox for Oyama by hitting one of its horns with a hammer so that it was quite
loose. Oyama did not kill the ox, he only knocked off the loose horn. Bill
Backhus and I saw the 16mm movie in 1959. Oyama himself showed it to us. I told
Oyama to never show this film in Europe because it looked too phony, and
everyone would laugh at him. As far as I know, nobody saw that movie
again." Furthermore, Oyama himself has admitted that the oxen were old.[4]

Oyama also had many matches with professional
wrestlers during his travels through the United States. Oyama said in the 1958
edition of his book What Is Karate that he had just three matches with
professional wrestlers plus thirty exhibitions and nine television appearances.
EJMAS notes that "As all matches between American professional wrestlers
of the 1950s must be considered fixed, that leaves Oyama with 33 exhibitions,
nine television appearances, and some steer wrestling to his credit."

Later years

Later in his life, Oyama suffered from
osteoarthritis. Despite his illness, he never gave up training. He was holding
demonstrations of his karate, breaking objects.

Final years

Before dying, Oyama built his Tokyo-based
International Karate Organization, Kyokushinkai, into one of the world's
foremost martial arts associations, with branches in more than 120 countries
boasting over 10 million registered members. In Japan, books were written by
and about him, feature-length films splashed his colorful life across the big
screen, and comic books recounted his many adventures.

Oyama died at the age of 70, on April 26, 1994, of
lung cancer. He was a non-smoker.[5]

Depiction

A manga about Oyama's legacy, Karate Baka
Ichidai (literal title:"A Karate-Crazy Life") was
published in Weekly Shonen Magazine
in 1971, the manga was written by Ikki Kajiwara while the art was done by Jirō
Tsunoda and Jōya Kagemaru. A 47 episode anime adaptation was released in 1973,
the anime had several changes in the plot and for some reason replaced Mas
Oyama with a fictional character named Ken Asuka as the main character. However
the anime, although some of its plot was different from the manga was still
inspired by Oyama's legacy like in the manga.

Oyama was played by Japanese actor Sonny Chiba in the martial arts film trilogy
based on the manga (Ikki Kajiwara, Jirō Tsunoda and Jōya Kagemaru were credited
as original creators) Champion of Death (1975), Karate Bearfighter
(1975), and Karate
for Life (1977). Oyama also appears in the first two films.

Oyama's life story is also portrayed in the 2004
South Korean film Fighter in the Wind
or Baramui Fighter.

Grappler Baki manga character Doppo Orochi is a
master karateka based on Mas Oyama, founding his own school of Karate,
Shinshinkai; the other most known Keisuke Itagaki's work, Garouden, features a mighty character, Shozan
Matsuo, who's apparently again inspired by Oyama.